Frozen Time
by Miss Turing
Summary: After the well closed off, Kagome was sad and bored. But mostly, she was bored, so terribly bored of the present. One day, she sees Doumeki-sensei walk into a beautifully built old-fashioned house, and curious, she ends up following him inside...
1. Chapter 1

It was now five months since the well had been blocked off, five months since she'd seen the Feudal Era and her beloved friends there… Five months since she got the normal life she longed for since two and a half years ago.

Oh, who was she kidding? She was bored and moping... adjusting to the present but moping nevertheless. Thanks to her mother, however, she was starting to move on; her mother got fed up and wouldn't "tolerate her shit anymore" (in nicer terms of course. Inuyasha was a bad influence on her choice of vocabulary, and thanks to him, her mind now occasionally "translated" things into a cruder form).

Her mother was generous enough to give her about a month to mope around, sniffling, haunting her room, and being a useless waste of space shriveling up in her room out of desolation. She didn't even have the willpower to go see if the well magically decided to let her through since she already knew that it wouldn't; it was part of the price she paid in order to guarantee that the Shikon Jewel would no longer cause the world any more harm.

After her depressingly unproductive month was up, her mother dragged her out of the room and gave her an ultimatum: become a miko for the family shrine, find a job , go back to school and graduate high school… not necessarily in that order of course.

Her mother seemed to be onto something though. Busy with studying, maintaining the shrine, and being polite to the customers that came to the café that she part-timed at, she hadn't had much time to dwell on the past and all she'd lost in that single moment. As long as she didn't think about it, she learned that her heart didn't ache as much; most days, she could delude herself into thinking she was the same as she was before she fell into the well: an ordinary, happy teenage girl. However, she could never get rid of that feeling of boredom that seemed to haunt her, taunting her that she was no longer in the dangerous, but exciting past; as far as she was aware, demons and spirits were no around…

-end of chapter 1-

A/N: While this was supposed to be a long one-shot, I got annoyed at continuously typing and decided to upload it in pieces to make myself feel better. Don't worry though, this fic's actually finished. I just need to have the willpower to type everything up… :D


	2. Chapter 2

It had been many years since her return. She was still bored, but now, she was lonelier and sadder than ever before: she was now alone. Grandpa was first: he died peacefully in his sleep – a stroke, the doctors told her family. Then Souta, who had grown up to become a fine young man (_"But you'll always be my little brother," Kagome teased as she ruffled his hair_)went off to college to Kyushu University with his childhood sweetheart Hitomi. Kagome and her mother were very proud of Souta's achievement, but they noticed that the house was a lot quieter without him there. On some days, Kagome even let herself wish that Souta went to a university closer to home.

Then, on one ordinary day, her mother got hit by a drunk driver. While the paramedics did their best to save her, she died even before she reached the hospital.

Kagome was devastated – the drunk driver's incarceration was of no consolation – but she was used to mourning by now… She could handle it.

She continued on in a daze with her mundane life – eating, sleeping, caring for the shrine – until one day, she got a brutal wake up call.

"Hey beautiful, want to join us for a fun time?" a group of immature high-school boys asked her. "You're kidding, right? I'm definitely too old for you guys," she replied with a deadpan expression on her face. "You, an old hag? You look like you're our age 'lady'," the guys snickered as they called her an "old hag" and "lady" in jest. "Thanks, but no thanks." Kagome left.

Out of curiosity though, she went home and checked the mirror. _'Okay, maybe the boys were onto something…' _While she knew that she would most likely age well – her mother looked like she was thirty five when she died at the age of fifty two – Kagome knew that this was borderline ridiculous. As the boys said, she looked exactly the same as she did when she was still in her teenage years, despite being– _Hey! Don't ask a lady her age! It's rude!_ It was definitely an odd way to realize this though; was she really _that_ out of it nowadays? '_Ack! I bet I can't even go drinking in decent bar. They'd card me then tell me that I was using my mother's I.D. or something if I showed them mine and call the police…'_

Realizing that she was going to be on Earth significantly longer than she realized, she made a note to herself to warn Souta the next time he called (though he might've figured it out already even with infrequent visits; he wasn't stupid after all or he would've never gotten into Kyudai). Also, to help her kill time, she decided to find out what happened to her friends from the Feudal Era all those years ago.

-end of chapter 2-

Kyushu University: Kyushu University was founded in 1903 and chartered in 1911. It is one of the nine Imperial Universities that later became the National Seven Universities (the two that "disappeared" dissolved and later became Seoul National University and National Taiwan University). It is a very prestigious university that is usually within the top ten schools in the rankings for universities in Japan. It is, to Kagome and her mother's dismay, the largest public university on the island of Kyushu (no, really? *sarcasm*) in Fukuoka which is a bit of a distance from Tokyo.

Fun fact: Did you know that there's a "Taisho University" located in Tokyo? *snickers*

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To "Moon" (guest): Thank you for reading the summary and being my sole reviewer XD. Also, thanks for reminding me to update, but really? It's only been a day or so… *is amused*

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A/N: I HATE FFnet's page breaks... To all the people I spammed with "updates" that really weren't actual updates, I blame them. (Sorry about the spamming if it did spam though .)


	3. Chapter 3

"_I'm sorry," Satou-san, the librarian, replied. "We don't have anything else that can help you with your search," the kind lady who was helping her broke the news to her. "If it's not in the books, on the internet, or in the archives, you won't be finding your information at somewhere like a library."_

"_Then where? Where can I find out?" she questioned Satou-san, trying not so sound desperate._

"_A research facility would be your best chances, dear. They all require a Masters or PhD however. Another great place to search for information would be at a college. They're fairly well informed. What's even better is that since most professors have connections to such facilities if they aren't a part of one for their own separate research, it's like a two for one deal!"_

"_So, in other words…" Kagome stated hesitantly._

"_Yes. You'd have to go to college," Satou-san answered her unvoiced question, crushing her denial and delusions with her words._

_Something in Kagome broke a little at the sound of that. 'Not more math?!' she sobbed in the corner of her mind._

_Eventually, Kagome was coherent enough to thank Satou-san and returned home to the shrine. She had to figure out what she needed in order to enter college._

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Okay. She had the funds (Thank you, shrine!). She had the knowledge (She studied harder than she had ever studied in her entire life, desperately clutching at this goal of hers), and she had the courage to take the exam (After the events of the Feudal Era, it was not a big deal, despite what her sweaty palms told her). Now, it was the moment of truth: She would soon find out if all her efforts were enough… that is, if she could make her way past the hordes of people in front of the postings who were trying to do the same thing as her. The people, each desperately chanting a number in their heads – their number – looked for that number, the number that would decide their fate. Kagome heard many groans, sighs of defeat and even heard a few people burst out crying. The lucky few burst out cheering.

Hoping for the best, she was doing the same.

'_84… 84… 84… Yes!' _It was official. She had made it in. Starting in a few months from now, she would be an official student of Unmei Daigaku.

-end of chapter 3-

While I was about to send Kagome to Toudai, I thought, "What are the chances that xxx xxxx at Toudai (minor spoilers, but meh!)? So, I just made up a college; Unmei means fate (I thought it'd be fitting though it *is* a bit cheesy/cliched.)

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A/N: Thanks for the reminder guys *sarcasm*. I forgot this fic existed half the time… Ahh well, no clue when I'm updating next? The next chapter's right next to me, but it's kind of a hassle to type up when I could be doing other things at the moment… *sigh* Review and make me happy? :D (or well, happier?)


	4. Chapter 4

While meandering randomly around the streets after classes were over, Kagome spotted someone in the distance, someone that was – or looked very similar to – her folklore studies professor Doumeki-sensei. _'Maybe this would be a good time to pick his brain, though it's strange seeing a teacher outside of school…'_

Before she could catch up to him, however, she saw him walk in, carrying grocery bags, into the gates of a beautiful, old fashioned house. However, instead of being built in a traditional Japanese style like most of the buildings in the neighborhood, it was built with many older, European influences in mind as well. _'Maybe the people who built the place were Anglophiles? Though I didn't expect a teacher, even if he's a college professor, to live in a house like that…Maybe it's inherited; he can't possibly make enough money for a house like that."_

When she reached the wrought-iron gates, she couldn't help but stare inside to where the house was located. It was beautiful. Before she could stop herself, her hand – against her will – reached for the gates and opened them, causing the gates to creak in protest. Her feat walked her towards the building. When she felt a strange aura wash over her when she entered the property, she became wary. To her horror, however, her body betrayed her and walked up the steps, opened the tall doors attached to the front of the house, and _walked_ _into a stranger's house_. Something was definitely off here. Her heart started beating rapidly in anticipation.

When she walked through the short hallway into what she was assuming was the living room, she walked into a strange scene. Doumeki-sensei was sitting on the floor next to two girls that looked identical enough to be twins, a strange creature that looked like a fat bunny, and a large sake bottle. He seemed to be drinking sake from a small, porcelain cup the size of a shot glass and steadfastly ignoring the two girls, one of whom was pulling on his hair. The bunny thing was jumping around while holding a cup that was identical to the one in Doumeki-sensei's hand. She assumed that it was drinking the sake with her teacher. _'Is that even legal?'_

Awkwardly, she decided to let her presence be known by the occupants of the room, hoping that that would be the key to allowing her free movement again.

"Umm, I'm sorry I rudely barged in, but–"

Before Kagome could finish talking, she was interrupted by the two girls that suddenly ran up to her and grabbed her hands.

"A guest! It's a guest! Watanuki, there's a guest here!"

She noticed a petite man around her (physical) age walk in, most likely due to the girls' yelling. He was wearing large, round glasses, an apron around his torso, a bandana around his head, and holding a ladle in his hand. The man – Watanuki? – seemed frazzled. When he noticed her standing there in the hallway, his face turned red.

"Why didn't you guys tell me before she came inside?! I could've gotten ready!" he started ranting at the two girls still holding her hands. Soon, he calmed down and started addressing her – "Welcome to my shop. My–" – but he was interrupted by Doumeki-sensei.

"Higurashi-san?" "You know her?" Her face flushed red, matching Watanuki-san's,face from moments ago. The words burst out of her mouth, fueled by her embarrassment. "I didn't mean to walk in! It was an accident, I swear! I know you won't believe me, but my body did this against its will." For some reason, she felt like she was channeling Miroku before she realized that that probably wasn't the best comparison to make at the moment, if ever. "I swear I'm not stalking Doumeki-sensei or anything..."

"It's fine, Higurashi-san. It seems to be a common occurrence, believe it or not*. As I tried to explain before I was so rudely cut off," he glared at Doumeki-sensei for a moment. "My name is Watanuki, and I'm the temporary owner of this shop. You may not believe me, but this is a shop that sells wishes."

-end of chapter 4-

* Lol, stalking Doumeki or people walking in randomly? Hmm, I feel like it'd be amusing if Doumeki did have lots of little fangirl stalkers from his classes or something...

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A/N: *sigh* I keep forgetting to update. I'm sorry it took so long, but I don't really feel like making excuses. So yeah; it happened because it happened.

In case you didn't figure out my XXXs from my A/N the previous chapter, it was, "What are the chances that _Doumeki teaches_ at Toudai."

Please review? It's one of the few indications for me that people actually do read what I write... . *is more of an attention whore than I thought* XD


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